Concealed carry off-body sling bags for women

February 19, 2021 1:19 PM

If you are licensed to carry a concealed gun, are a woman, and prefer sling bags, this question is for you! Inquiring minds want to know what bag you use.

What I have currently works but would slow me down if I wanted to draw in any kind of a hurry. I prefer to use sling bags. I can't seem to find much on the 'net about these mysterious bags; so many "tactical" bags out there, but I want to avoid that tactical look.

Any suggestions?

posted by dwbrant to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

I don't own and haven't tried any of these products, but: Kelty Sling bags look decidedly un-tacticool and are made for CCW, with space for spare mags. No molle, no overt reference to guns.

Falco Holsters has a sling-bag; some of the color schemes are tacticool or hunter-focused, but others are typical for a hiker's backpack. Sold in left- and right-hand options. And, in case you wonder, they don't scream FALCO HOLSTER either-- most people would see them as bags from an unfamiliar brand.
posted by Sunburnt at 4:08 PM on February 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

The one woman I know who uses a sling bag for CCW has something like this: GTM Sling Bag.

Looking for "women's concealed carry sling bag" brought up a lot of options, many of which didn't look tactical. No idea how well they work for the stated purpose, though.
posted by ralan at 4:39 PM on February 19, 2021

Maxpedition has a couple sling bags in the "Entity" line. Large and small. There's also a couple cross-body bags in there that are one-strap you might want to look at.

Entity. N.T.T. Non-tactical tactical. Aren't they clever? That said they are so gray that they maybe start to be more conspicuous than not. Would it hurt to throw a little color in there, folks?

I don't have a sling bag. I have a more traditional 2-strap backpack from the Entity line and it's held up well for a year of EDC, especially considering I'm hauling around a 10 pound piece of AR500 steel in the laptop sleeve in addition to a pistol and 2 mags in the ample CC area.

> you are licensed to carry a concealed gun, are a woman, and prefer sling bags

One and a half outta three but I want to help!
posted by glonous keming at 4:53 PM on February 19, 2021

i spent a decade in the tacticool industry and spent a lot of time working with conceal carry gear. Off body carry is tricky because a cc purse is itself a target for theft. a backpack with cc features is a target for theft if it isn't on your back--especially the nice ones, they look more like a Camera bag. a pistol loose in an accessible pocket isn't a sure bet vs a pistol secured in a holster of some kind in that pocket--if it is secure, then you can rely on opening a zipper as a way to be ready, and not worrying your pistol is going to fall out of the cheesy velcro loop many of those products use. Several of the recommendations here work with some modification. I use a kydex holster with a retention feature secured via velcro in a small tacticool sling bag with a zip closure. some people don't like holsters with level 1 or 2 retention--but a pistol in a holster is worth 2 on the ground. I'd go with something small, so you never take it off when you are out an about. I did a lot of training with a guy who didn't take anything like that seriously until after he had dropped his gun while using a busy public restroom, and it slid into the stall next door.
posted by th3ph17 at 5:41 PM on February 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

As a woman who conceal carries, I strongly urge you to reconsider.

I briefly tried off-body purse carry but the stress of having to constantly remember to never set my purse down anywhere ever because that would be leaving my gun unattended was too much for me.

So, before you buy a concealed carry purse, I advise spending a few weeks pretending that your gun is in already in your purse and that any time your purse is not strapped to your body is an opportunity for some kid to start playing with your gun and accidentally shoot themselves or others. Keep a mental tally of how many "whoops that could have been another dead kid" moments you have in a typical week.

I think you'll soon realize that we leave our purses in vulnerable-to-theft situations more often than we think -- e.g., in a shopping cart, on the back of a chair in a restaurant, classroom, or workplace, on the hook of a bathroom door where someone could reach over and grab it, on a chair or table at a friend's house, etc. Your purse getting stolen when your ID, money, phone, etc. are it in sucks, but your purse getting stolen when your gun is in it could literally kill someone. I don't know about you but I'm absentminded enough to not want to bet someone's life on my ability to remember to never ever set my purse down.

I know that most holsters don't fit women's bodies comfortably, but what ultimately worked for me is a stretchy wraparound velcro soft holster with the gun worn in the small of my back. I wear pants or skirts instead of dresses so that I have access via my waistband. And the stretchy wraparound velcro holster has enough of a body-shaping waist-trimming effect that your clothes should still fit even with the gun in the waistband.

While small of back isn't an ideal carrying location, for me it was the least bad option when the alternatives are not carrying, carrying off-body, or wearing a traditional holster where the gun painfully dug into my torso because the holster was tilted by my hips. And I figure that the odds of me being pinned on my back unable to reach my gun are a lot lower than the odds of my purse being stolen.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:11 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]